Kevin Willard told The New York Post this week that he always felt Steve Masiello's intentions as a University of Louisville basketball assistant were to help build the Cardinals a national title team, not springboard to a head coaching job elsewhere.

Well, Masiello did both, recruiting players such as star guard Russ Smith to U of L before he went home to coach Manhattan in 2011.

Much fuss was made Wednesday by the Cardinals' Rick Pitino because the NCAA tournament's selection committee matched U of L with Masiello and Manhattan, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champions, in a No. 4 seed vs. No. 13 game set to tip at 9:50 p.m.

Willard, another former Pitino assistant now at Seton Hall, thought "better him than me" when the tournament draw was revealed.

"It's a long shot, but everybody's got a chance in the NCAA Tournament," Willard told The Post. "The way Russ Smith is playing, the way everybody [at Louisville] is playing, I think they're playing at a different level from everybody else in the country."

Willard, who coached six years with the Boston Celtics under Pitino and four at U of L, said he'll be rooting for the team that still has his heart — the Cardinals. Having also worked with Masiello on U of L's staff, Willard said he knows what the Manhattan coach is going through.

Before coaching for Pitino, Masiello met the Hall of Famer as a New York Knicks ball boy and walked on to play for him at Kentucky.

"It was like working for a second father," Willard told The Post. "Stevie would run through a wall for Coach."

And now Masiello, who inherited a 6-25Manhattan team but built the Jaspers to an NCAA contender in three seasons, has to face his mentor when it counts most.

"It's tough because Coach Pitino's teams are always playing great this time of year," Willard said. "When you're playing Rick Pitino teams in the tournament, you're playing his team at its best, and that's always tough."

IN THE C-J

• For more on the Masiello-Pitino matchup, reporter Jeff Greer is reporting from Orlando's Amway Center, where the Cardinals and Jaspers will open NCAA Tournament play Thursday. Pitino said this week he's afraid to play Masiello because, "He knows every single thing I've done since I was 28." (http://cjky.it/1ij9yiq)

• As with many of us, columnist Tim Sullivan filled out a bracket in Yahoo! Sports' Billion Dollar Bracket Challenge. And he's thought about what he'd do with the money, even if Sullivan doesn't expect to win it. (http://cjky.it/1eVoW0z)

• Florida's players witnessed first hand Kentucky's quick turnaround last week. But with a No. 8 seed in the consensus toughest region in the tournament, can the Wildcats make any noise? "They're coming together as a team and we wish them the best," said the Gators' Will Yeguette. (http://cjky.it/1d3xkQc)

AROUND THE WEB

• Grantland.com's Jordan Conn recently sat down with two stars of last year's national championship game — Michigan's Spike Albrecht and U of L's Luke Hancock — to re-watch the game and hear their thoughts in real time. It resulted in quotes like this one, from Albrecht: "Peyton Siva came up and nudged me and said something like, 'You're not supposed to be this good. What the hell, man?'" (http://es.pn/1hEexrY)

• Larry Collmus, Churchill Downs' new track announcer, says he'll always get butterflies calling the Kentucky Derby. Tom Durkin, who used to navigate the 20-horse field for NBC, had to give it up out of fear of calling it wrong. "I tried hypnosis, and dieting and exercise, and moderate pharmaceuticals," he told ESPN. "But in the end, I just didn't want to deal with it anymore. Your wealth is your health." (http://es.pn/1g4qF8e)

• Card Chronicle's Mike Rutherford spoke with ESPN's Rece Davis on Wednesday and hit on what is sure to be a hot topic when ESPN releases its College GameDay sites for the 2014-2015 basketball season, particularly because the show has never made it to the KFC Yum! Center. "Now I can't promise anything, but I would assume that with Louisville's move to the ACC, they would be very high on the list for next season," Davis told Card Chronicle. (http://bit.ly/1gekcbA)

WHAT'S ON TAP

• Join us for a live blog and fan chat for the U of L-Manhattan game (and every Cardinals NCAA tournament game) on The Courier-Journal's "Live Cards" page. Or, if looking to chat in our new website's format, find a link before tipoff at courier-journal.com/sports. (http://bit.ly/1gCBlpG)

Jonathan Lintner can be reached at (502) 582-4199; follow him on Twitter @JonathanLintner.